Yesterday The Observer reported an alarming row over a TV talent contest in Shanghai. One of the leading contestants, a 20-year-old girl named Lou Jing (pronounced Low not Loo), has attracted enormous opprobrium from all over the country. Some of the comments in the Chinese blogosphere are almost unbelievable. Sounds familiar, you might think. But the only allegation levelled at her is that she has dared to appear on television while being of mixed race, her father being a black African who was not married to her mother.
For a start, Lou Jing is extremely lucky to be alive. I thought I’d seen it all in China, but I’ve never seen an African/Chinese mixed race person there. You don’t actually meet all that many people born out of wedlock at all. This is not, as the prissy blogosphere would have it, because of the superior virtue of Chinese maidens. It is because illegitimacy is so socially unacceptable that (at a guess) 99 per cent of such pregnancies are terminated. If the mother suspected that the pregnancy had resulted from an affair with a black man, I would have said until today that that figure was 100 per cent. And this 20 years ago! Lou Jing’s mother is one extremely brave woman.Full Article : telegraph.co.uk

RIGHT: Lou Jing with her mother

China’s black pop idol exposes her nation’s racism

By Stephen Vines
November 2nd, 2009

She is attractive, effervescent and has an appealing voice. But these qualities alone would not have made Lou Jing the most famous television talent show contestant in China and the subject of national debate in the world’s most populous country. The reason they are talking about Lou is because she is black.

The 20-year-old daughter of a Chinese mother and an African-American father who left the country before she was born, Lou was a highly unusual entrant to Shanghai-based Dragon TV’s Go Oriental Angel. Her appearances – she became one of five finalists – have provoked a storm of abuse on the internet, a rare debate on racism in the media, and a bout of self-examination in a country where skin colour is a notoriously sensitive subject.

Dragon TV initially had doubts about allowing Lou to perform, but then realised that her presence would do much to attract publicity for the show. But few executives can have expected the fury contained in many of the blogs and online posts that accompanied her performances. The internet is the only place in China where the public can express views with near-freedom – although they are rapidly cut off by an army of state censors if they stray into territory that attracts official disapproval. The huge online interest in Lou clearly does not fall into this category.Full Article : guardian.co.uk

Lou Ching is an all-around normal and attractive 20-year-old girl from Shanghai who likes clothes, (presumably) boys, the mall and has big dreams of becoming a singing superstar. So big that in August she became a contestant on China’s Let’s Go! Oriental Angel, a televised talent contest much like our beloved American Idol. So what’s the big deal? Lou is Black.

To clarify, Lou Jing is biracial. The product of an extra-marital affair between her Chinese mother and an African-American man, naturally the circumstances surrounding her birth make for great TV, which the show’s producers have played up, and playing Lou in the process. A baby born out of an affair is hardly news in any country, but the simple fact that her mom slept with a Black man and Lou was born has made the girl the focus of a rapidly growing debate about what it means to really be Chinese. Lou’s birth and upbringing in China, and pretty much her life until now, has been disregarded by many simply due to the fact that she has Black blood in her veins, something that I suspect would be different if her father was White. Naturally, she and her mother have their fair share of haters, some just displaying outright racism and disrespect towards both of them, hidden by the cloak of the internet.Full Article : parlourmagazine.com

Seeing red over black angel

A half-Chinese, half-black young woman is making a lot of Chinese netizens mad. She didn’t do anything. She just looks different.

The uproar really kicked off when a Shanghai newspaper published a libellous article suggesting her mother had cheated on her Chinese husband with Lou Jing’s father.

“The newspaper has retracted the article and we are involved in legal action against them,” said Lou Jing. “I tried to make sure my mother didn’t see the article, but even though we got it removed from the paper’s website and the major internet forums, it kept popping up elsewhere on the internet,” she added. “I cried a lot.”Full Article : telegraph.co.uk

Heads-up to foreigners: “racism in China” is a cross-cultural conversation landmine

I guess this is one of those things that most foreigners in China discover sooner or later, though I didn’t realize until recently that this is a sensitive nerve for a lot of Han Chinese (Han are the majority ethnic group in China at 92%). Apparently the idea that there could be racism in China is outright rejected by a lot of Chinese: “‘Racism’ is never in Chinese minds,” says one commenter from Hong Kong. “We don’t have racism issues.” Yet multiple glaring, text-book examples of racism instantly and effortlessly spring to the minds of foreigners who’ve spent significant time in China. They’ve experienced or witnessed it for themselves, and they can’t believe that anyone would seriously deny that it exists. The Mainlanders, however, are offended that a foreigner would even suggest it.Full Article : chinahopelive.net

Appalling Racism

In case there’s anyone here who doesn’t already read ChinaSMACK, check out this post (although be warned, this is a good mood ruiner). The short version of the story is that a half-Chinese, half-African-American girl who was the product of an extramarital affair went on TV, and Chinese netizens went crazy. Some comments, of course, are supportive, but many of them are deeply, disturbingly racist.

We’ve discussed the question of racism before here, most memorably last spring, when we accidentally touched off a bit of controversy and earned the ire of famous Chinese blogger He Caitou. He told me repeatedly that there is “no racism in China.” If you’ve lived in China, it’s probably a phrase you’ve heard before.

There’s no point in even discussing the question further; to my mind, anyone with a functioning brain can see that there is racism in China (just as there is everywhere else). What concerns me is the steadfast denial that such thoughts and feelings exist, even when presented with pretty damning evidence.Full Article : sun-zoo.com

51 Responses to “Are the Chinese racist?”

Every Caribbean person who has internet access should read this artcle. The Chinese came to TnT more than 150 years ago, and had many children with poor black women who were,perhaps, paying for their groceries that way. Now, if we examine every product in our stores, we would see Made In China. This is also true in the USA. If that is the attitude of the Chinese people to darkskinned people, we need to remember when we order food in a Chinese restaurant, buy groceries,or buy cosmetics from the hundreds of thousands of beauty supply stores they have all over the West. Those who plan to go to Shanghai for the World Expo 2010 also need to pay attention.There are things people can do about racism. It all has to do with the pocket book.

Someone needs to bring this article to the attention of the government of TnT. Who knows what secret poisons they may be putting into the walls of the buildings they construct? There was a major problem about use of Chinese drywall beginning in 2004 in the USA. The drywall smelled like faeces, and had to be removed. God knows what they were made from.

If you feel you are working with inferior people, you give them an inferior product in the belief that they do not know any better. Think about it people.

“It is high time we introduced some sensitivity training on races and ethnicities if we are going to latch on to the orbit of globalisation. People should realise that if you have a right to discriminate against another race you have automatically given others the right to discriminate against you.”
THIS IS THE VOICE OF A CHINESE SCHOLAR.

It’s not just China. By the way, the majority of the people who sell African hair products are Korean. Whta your ordering thats called Chineses food, are there any Chinese people eating that? Probably not.
Check this out:

It seems that there is a Asian power movement going on that many of us were not aware of. It’s the Black power movement with strong global implications because of the global economy and the shift to Asia for mass produced goods.

My heart goes out to our desperate Chinese workers . They have now lost one of their staunchest pro human rights /anti- slavery allies in Ms. L.simply due to the fact that their fellow socialist Shanghai nationals are portrayed as a bunch of anti- African racist.
The Chinese as an emerging power can be as complex as the usual European suspects that we have been riddled with for centuries. In one of the world’s longest civil wars, everyday thousand of Sudanese are dying of genocide and their pro capitalist pseudo democratic pal China has ensured political/ military support and protection for the black dictatorial pro Arab regime.And yet, no outrage outside of a few Hollywood movie stars. A few years ago in China , they were rounding up African male students who dared to show interest in the local girls. Not as bad as interracial interplays in our country , but racism nevertheless. and yet , not many of us loose much sleep over that as we praised them for a wonderful olympics.
As important as the racial point is in this case, of equal importance is the fact that the young lady was conceived via an unwed couple , and that too has created some of the outrage in the country. Perhaps that too should get us riled up as well – the distasteful legacy of global Africans that enjoy fatherhood without responsibility.Should we mentioned the late Kenyan prince Barrack Obama Snr, father of the present US President . How many hours did the bastard spend in his son’s life? Let me leave this alone before I run into trouble. Yes ,we’ll now focus on Chinese racism.

Will Neal please stop trying to write my script? Those Chinese slaves in TnT do not go to pop shows, and the racist comments were made on the internet, according to the Guardian of London.

Injustice anywhere must be protested.I would say that Japan was wrong to enslave Chinese people during WW11, and the racists in China are wrong to discriminate against a brown Chinese girl, and the construction companies in TnT are wrong not to pay their workers a fair wage.
At the same time, I reserve the right not to go to China, buy products made in China, particularly those claiming to be designer originals- US Customs siezes container loads of them all the time. I do not buy Chinese toys for children, because some years ago they were selling real cat fur on toy cts, and their lead paint record is horrendous. I can cook food from all cultures, so I do not need to go to a Chinese restaurant. Years ago, I learned to walk around Chinatown, in Philadelphia, and choose a restaurant that Chinese people were entering.That was before the picture of the two Chinese in Sando taking home a road-kill dog appeared in the TnT papers. If I go out to a restaurant now, of any Asian persusion- Japanese,Thai or Vietnamese as well as Cambodian, I eat chicken, that cannot be faked. My girlfriend who set up her oil company’s ccounting system in China more than ten years ago, gave me some information about their sanitary habits that was disturbing, but I will not share them here.
Yao Ming is one of my favorite basketball players, and I have eaten in his restaurant in H-town.

You won’t hear much arguments from me on this score , as I am firmly in your corner Ms. L. When it comes to cuisines, you can generally be said to be putting your life at risk at times when eating out, especially in some quarters of the global village. Forgive me , I tend to sometimes get carried away. The audacity of me in trying to write your script. Let’s continue to keep global exploiters symbolic hands to the fire ,irrespective of where they might lurk.Be they Canadian Apple farms that exploit WI apple pickers, or Yankees homeowners that use and abuse our numerous ex nurses , teachers and escaping Trini housewives that daily slave to raise their snotty nose, miserable kids ,and incapacitated senior citizen family members.
Ah these Japanese , they too have suffered throughout history . Some would say that they deserved internment by FDR during the lead up to WWII ,and the unleashing of two atomic bombs on their country under the directive of Truman.
Hey , what a coincident indeed? Today I began watching the movie ‘Memoirs of a Geisha.’I happened to read the Arthur Golden wonderful best selling novel several years ago about glorification of prostitution by Japan. Leave it to Asia to make something that would be seen as despicable elsewhere , into a cultural art form.
Lets see Chinese had female foot binding, Japanese Geishas , African genital mutilation, and Indians bride burning. Which one of these received the most condemnation? O yes, back to the big story- Chinese racist!

Ding Hui: Still Chinese, still black, still playing volleyball
In fact, Ding Hui was selected for the training group for the Chinese national team in the spring of this year. Coach Zhou Jianan had high praise for his play, saying he was one of China’s top five players. But Ding’s skin color and mixed parentage (his mother is Chinese, father is South African) attracted more media interest. The 20-year-old Ding Hui, the first black player to get a spot on any Chinese national team, competed for Zhejiang in the national games.

Ding Hui is part of a small but growing minority in China—people with one Chinese parent and one black parent (often African) who grow up side by side with children whose appearance is more consistent with what is generally considered Chinese. Another such young person is Lou Jing, who recently made waves when she made it to the late stages of a Chinese reality show competition called “Go! Oriental Angels.” (We’ve chronicled her travails extensively)

Black athlete Hui Ding becomes China’s new sporting star
Ding said, “It seems that what people and media are concerned about the most is my bloodline. However I do not care about that at all. What I am thinking is how to play Volleyball well in the national team and wish to win respect with my Volleyball skill.

“While walking in the streets, people always consider me as a foreigner and talk with me in English, but I just speak Hangzhou dialect, which takes them by surprise.

“I am Chinese, and a Hangzhou city native, born and grown up in the city. I am just an ordinary Volleyball player. I can only speak Mandarin and Zhejiang dialect and cannot speak any African language. My English is also not good,” said Ding.

I don’t know why there is surprise over this revelation. It was news during the Vietnam era, when the kids of black american soldiers and Vietnamese women were discriminated against in the land of their birth, and by the American government where mixed white and vietnamese was given immigrant preference over black and vietnamese.

The one human characteristic shared by every non black group in this world is anti-black prejudice. Black people carry on this with this illusion that only white people are anti-black racist when the evidence abounds that hating black is a universal past time.

China land of opportunity for some young Africans
Kajese is one of an increasing number of young Africans heading to China, as the country’s booming economy and ever-closer ties with African nations create opportunities as tempting as any in Europe or the United States.

Racism is sadly well rooted in most parts of the world, including the Caribbean. It is rarely just hatred of the colour of a person, but intermingled with cultural differences and dislikes as well as history of nations and people, who conquered who and who made who their slave. Often facts are twisted in a way that suits and supports one’s own claims and views and their right to dislike or feel superior to someone.

Asia is no different in this sense, and the many nations there suffer from racial and cultural discrimination, extreme nationalism and feelings of superiority/inferiority.

I’d like to point out this may be a vastly generalizing view, but it is based on things I have seen and discussions I have had during my many trips and stays in different Asian nations.

Philipinos dislike Indians, Chinese consider themselves smarter than others, Indian feel they are better, Korean dislike Japanese, Japanese consider them & their culture superior to all, Malay’s and Indonesian dislike chinese and blame them for all their misfortunes, taking no responsibility for their own bad decisions, etc etc. The list goes on and on. Whitening creams are a top seller in all the Asian countries still, because of age-old thoughts and beliefs that white skin symbolizes wealth, power and beauty. Phew…

Black people and culture are simultaneously idolized in some parts like Japan for their culture (reggae and dub are hugely popular there, and even dancehall clubs exist as a subculture amongst local youths) but also loathed (if you go to Roppongi in Tokyo or San Li Tun in Beijing in the evening, chances are you are approached about a zillion times by pushy African fellas, selling drugs or trying to get you into seedy clubs filled with hookers). Sad but true.

In the Caribbean as everywhere else in the world people should look in the mirror before they start getting on their high horse of “I am better than thou, I am not racist at all”. In my own experience many Caribbean people do not even think twice or even consider the act of thinking badly of European or American white people rasist. Similarly it seems acceptable, no, a God given right, to insult them verbally on the street, or say insultive words like “race traitor” to a black man or a woman who happens to be with a white woman or a man.

Trinidad has a nickname for every single creed and colour – be it honkey, coolie, dougla or reds…why is this if there is no racism in the Caribbean? Good heavens. It is not all that pretty and picture perfect not only in China.

I *HATE* racism. Dislike that is based simply on the colour of a person’s skin must be the lowest form of stupidity on this planet. I CAN understand to a point cultural and religious dislikes, but I believe that people should learn to respect each other’s cultures instead of declaring superiority based on being more holy than the other or coming from a superior culture.

But lets be clear and truthful: Racism and prejudice exists everywhere and has no particular colour or nationality. It is typically just as full of false facts, ignorance and hot air, whether it is white against black, black against white, yellow against brown or green against blue.

Not so quick Mika, on this ‘mirror’ reflection , ‘all ah we racist’ mantra. Racism without power is simply an act in futility. Let me make a generalize statement that might shock you with all your global explorations , even if it’s certainly true ,and can be backed up with data. The people of the African Diaspora are the only group that one can safely say lacks any concept of racist attitude towards any other race.
Surprise , surpise ,that they became useful fodder for white savages as they in turn imposed the most barbaric and dehumanizing slavery system on them.
Others including asians found it very convenient to join that long line that despise anything African unless they happen to be some extremely powerful iconic, yet non threatening figure , but would gladly kiss the feet of any European ,or closely mimic Eurocentric lifestyle.

Dear neal, in all honesty you seem to elevate people of African origin to a pedestal here – they alone lack any concept of racism towards others. I’m sorry to say the evidence tells us otherwise, for racially motivated hate crime and abuse is committed by people of African descent just as much as by other races all over the world. So no, I do not share your view that people of African descent would somehow magically be “better” in this sense or any other sense. Furthermore you seem to take a rather big role here, speaking for all of such people.

I recall racially motivated attacks even in sweet Trinidad. IN the 80s a Trini boyscout of spanish and Amer-indian origin was brutally beaten by a group of fellow boyscouts who were black. When asked for their motivation in this, they bluntly stated that “he ent black, he ent East Indian, allawe just show he he doh belong here in this country”. Ironic, isn’t it, that ancestors of dehumanized slaves would act just like “the man” they hate towards a true native of the country. And this is but one example.

Your own statements regarding Asians seem quite desparaging and prejudice, I feel. You say “..asians found it very convenient to..gladly kiss the feet of any European..”. Hmm. “Asians” consist of more than 2 billion people. Have you ever been to Asia? Most Asians are fiercely proud of their own ancestry, culture and certainly do not kiss the feet of Europeans. Does Vietnam ring a bell? Viet Kong did not exactly kiss the feet of the American – neither did the Japanese, or Mao’s China.

Finally your statements about slavery – and I by no means defend the disgusting human history of horrid slavery that so many have endured accross times – but you do realize white Europeans were hardly the first to introduce slavery to Africa (and that the history of slavery extends much much further than 400 years)?

There is historical evidence that Central and South African kingdoms and tribes enslaved by force their neighbouring tribes throughout centuries. Similarly Ancient Egyptians had “nubian” slaves. The might Zulu nation enslaved also other tribes by brute force and war. Even before Islam, Arabic nations had well-established slave trade routes to East African ports and accross the saharan deserts. When UK finally banned slavery in the beginning of 19th century, several African state leaders wrote angily to the ruler of England, demanding slavery to be started again, because selling their neighboring tribes as slaves was of great economic importance to these nations of Western African coast.

Slavery and racism – two incredibly ugly concepts. But I think we all need to sit down together and have a piece of the humble pie and admit, none ah we better than the other. As long as that game goes on, we have not really achieved much have we?

“Ironic, isn’t it, that ancestors of dehumanized slaves would act just like the man.” So you are surprise at this development Mika. You might just be correct, Africans people globally are a bunch of savages just like whites and Asians counterparts. I can see logic in your implicit conclusions that South African Apartheid was fine since Zulus practiced it , and slavery was justified because victorious African chiefs allegedly did it to their captors. Now the conscience of our noble colonial masters can be at ease as a result of this news.
You also said Meka ,”Furthermore you seem to take a rather big role here, speaking for all of such people.”
However,I see I still have some catching up to do with you. As you’ve claimed,I speak with authority on behalf of all African peoples, and you are the voice of logic and reason for all Asians and Europeans.
What have I said repeatedly via this forum? Trinis are sometimes the most comical and shallow group of people on the face of the earth.
Search as much as you wish folks , and I dare you to find another Caribbean or wider global national with such skewed ways of thinking. I remembered one proudly boasting on this forum to having lived abroad for some 30 years , and never brought any of her kids home for a single visit ,but yet took them all over the world.

Dear Neal, you have misunderstood much of what I wrote but I’m not upset by this – it often happens in the internet when people do not concentrate on their reading comprehension.

You state “You might just be correct, Africans people globally are a bunch of savages just like whites and Asians counterparts.”

– No, not savages, just human like all others – no better, no worse.

“I can see logic in your implicit conclusions that South African Apartheid was fine since Zulus practiced it , and slavery was justified because victorious African chiefs allegedly did it to their captors.”

– You have misunderstood me here rather completely – perhaps I was not clear enough. I never mentioned Apartheid , nor did I suggest at any point that slavery was justified – quite the opposite.

“Now the conscience of our noble colonial masters can be at ease as a result of this news.”

– I believe the old colonial masters are are pretty much dead by now – their countries do exist for most part.

“I remembered one proudly boasting on this forum to having lived abroad for some 30 years , and never brought any of her kids home for a single visit ,but yet took them all over the world.”

– Not sure how this relates to the topic discussed, but this is of course sad. In it’s current state Trinidad appears increasingly unstable, violent and crime-ridden country and export of people is on the increase due to this. This may well be the real reason why someone would choose not to bring their children for a visit (also if there is no ties left anymore, i.e. almost all relatives have migrated as often is the case).

Last week, in Houston, Texas I hosted a forum for one of my international organizations called”The American Experience Through African Eyes”. There were three panelists, one from West Africa, one Jmaican and A Trini, plus me, also a trini. A number of reguular members did not attend- out of town for the holiday week, having to pick up relaties at the airport etc. I invited a few of my friends whho are not members-all Africans of the Diaspora.
What happened was really revealing. All the people, panelists and members, agreed tat our humanity was what connected us. One of the panelists, a Ph.D. in Chemistry told of being heavily recruited by a global science based company, and then, they gave him a simple chemistry test which theey did not gie to the white employee interviewed at the same time. In the past, they would not have talked of it, but today’s people generally come out in the open and share notes.One engineer told of having to conduct training, and certify knowledge for people who had treated him rather badly when he first joined the company. The expressed fear that he would fail them-such low expectations, based on their values. They even tried to have him removed as their instructor. The company did not budge. they passed the tests, because they mastered the material. the third participant spoke of designing a project for which she identified a need in her company, based on talking with some others in her group. When she presented it to manaement, the lapped it up, but wanted to appoint their own white favorite to head the project. There was almost a riot on the part of the Africans and whites who knew whose project it was. MAnagemnet had to gie in and lett he originator head it.
None of these people are bitter. they realize that in every case, the people who acted like idiots were acting based on their limited knowledge of who Africans really. I posit that informed, educated Africans have no time for being bitter. As one poet says, “we peopled the world. We created the human race.” This is not to say that we have forgotten anything.
The audience were tremendously impressed with these three professionals, and perhaps were particularly impressed with the fact that they were all sociable, friendly people of the same socialrank as the white audience.

Comment #2, same day:
The word Slave is derived from the Slavonic people captured by th Romans and brought back to Rome.Previous to this, people were called bondsmen. Their brilliant blond hair made them look like gods in the Italian sun, but they were Slavs(slaves). Now, there is no nation or group in the world that has NOT had slaves. India, China, Japan(as recently as WW11) Germany enslaved the Jews and built the hegemony of German cars- Mercedes, BMW,Volkswagen- during WW11.
Even today, Haitian children are bought by New Yorkers as slaves, and they have been prosecuted for it.

People who are ill-informed, and possible full of racial hatred are forever talking about who enslaved whom. People enslave others over whom they have control. This is why I keep referring to the Chinese bond labourers in TnT busy building our magnificent buildings as slaves, just like African American slaves built the Capitol and White House, Slaves built the Pyramids in Egypt, and the Taj Mahal in India.It was cheap to build magnificent buildings when all you had to do was feed the people and give them somewhere to sleep. The puyramids of Nubia were probably built by slaves too.

So lets cut the crap. The difference between pre-Atlantic slavery and the New World slavery was that approximately 100 million people were bought or stolen to bring to the new world, to planrt crops that were also imported. Cotton was already growing in Africa, sugar in Malta, Cyprus and India.The justification was that these were subhumans which was a lie, All the Europeans prior to 1500 testified to the high level of civilization they found in Africa. If we still do not know this, we are too ignorant to share in these blogs.
There is no superior race. Nations are on seesaws.Sometimes they are up, sometimes down. If there was a superior or inferior rce, blood transfusions and organ transplants would not be possible, as well s mating between species.
I have said this at least six times in various ways on trinicenter.com. How long will I have to repeat myself? Are we so fond of our ignorance?
Pardon typos. staying to corect all could cause the message to be lost.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade didn’t only just transport people; it divided families, stripped culture, and homogenized a racial group based on color. It was cultural genocide.
What I find disturbing is that now others who are not European seem to think that it is fine to try to abuse people primarily of African decent. Members of the African Diaspora should fight this any time by any means necessary. I for one will not be singing we shall over come and begging for equality. I demand equality. For too long, the world has been evolving without input from the African or Africans of the Diaspora from a position of control. It is true that we must control ourselves in order to control our destiny. However, it is true that only we can do that and it would be easier and more pure if we did it for ourselves without outside interference. The outside interference has prevented sub-Sahara Africa from realizing its full potential.

I think that it is ignorant for anyone to imply the problems of modern day Africans and Africans of the Diaspora are because of the character defects and social behaviors of modern day Africans and Africans of the Diaspora. Clearly as his-story illustrates, the erosion of Africans society that led us to where we are today started with European ambitions of controlling the world. Now others think that they can fill the void that the Europeans abandoned in order to raise their culture and nations at our expense.
Historically, only European/ Eurocentric nations seesaw because it was only Europeans sharing the wealth and power that they stripped from the world. Now, they (the Eurocentric nations) out of self preservation have shared their wealth with Asian countries who now have been so emboldened out of ignorance to subscribe to the notion that they are superior to others not like them especially people of African decent. I know different!
Nobody cares if an African is a racist. So what! It has no weight. Xenophobia amongst Africans and Africans of the Diaspora should be the norm based off of history and global negative perceptions of Africans and Africans of the Diaspora. Incredibly, that is not the case and yet some have the audacity to think that racism is fair and equally distributed. I would like to see the statistics that support the claims that hate crimes are committed by people of African descent just as much as by other races all over the world. There was no bigger hate crime than the trans- Atlantic slave trade and segregation that followed. The holocaust maybe and that’s because better records were kept connecting names with victims and total number before and after. Even a fool knows that most violent crime committed by Africans and Africans of the Diaspora is against Africans and Africans of the Diaspora.

It’s so insulting that it’s almost comical to name one incident in the 80’s of a hate crime against a Trini boy scout of Spanish and Amerindian origin without mentioning the “Black on Black” crime of that decade. Colonization and European racism was so successful that “Black on Black” crime at times seems like a hate crime against ones self.
I would like some clarification about this feet kissing thing. Someone stated that Asian society is full of skin whitening creams and then they later stated something about not kissing the feet of Americans as if the American military wasn’t integrated during WW2 and Vietnam Conflict. Japanese society has been so whitewashed (excuse the pun) Eurocentric Americanized it resembles a hybrid society and only a shell of the proud civilization it once was. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t like the movie The Last Samurai. Families in Asia praise children that are half European genetically speaking while scolding the mother of a child that is half African. Asian society really seems equally hateful. What happened to just hating everyone. Am I feeling nostalgic for the good old days of hate?
I remember something about Moses in the bible and how he led the Jews out of bondage in Egypt. Only a racist would believe that Jews of the time in Egypt were European in look. That same racist would not know that it was not Arabs that controlled Egypt at that time. African slavery has been practiced for a long time before Europeans interfered.
Slavery practiced by Europeans was something totally different than what the Africans perpetuated. Forcing someone to do something against their will is bad enough. However, I would think that cheating that person out of their identity and then providing that person with self hate and a series of values, images, faith, and society that are permeated with negative connotations toward ones self based on race is despicable and unforgivable. For that to be tolerated and continued is a crime against humanity in itself and must be stopped.

Excellent all round commentaries Curtis. Just to add, that one of the most effective tools of control in modern use today is that of education, and the dangling of a few economic pittance towards global middle class African elites ,many of which unfortunately became the poster children for inferiority complexes, and self hatred.
Funnily enough, some are not even aware that they are being used as they tend to enjoy parroting empty phrases and imbecilic ideas that their modern masters subtly encourage them to utter throughout the media, lofty symposiums , think tanks , and status quo research projects.
I can usually live with an illiterate brute that resort to the black on black crimes as I still strive to nudge them in a different more productive direction. It is the bloke at the other end of the social spectrum that should know better that I am repulsed with. Racism against Africans -of a overt and covert nature -will continue unabated long into the future as long as this black middle class remains as cowards , and refuse to stand up to be counted in efforts aimed at holding the symbolic hands of racial discrimination perpetrators to the fire where it hurts.
It’s easy to understand why Africans on the continent will continue to kiss the butts of South/East Asians, Arabs , and Europeans that repeatedly treat them as garbage while keeping lascivious eyes on their vast natural resources. Hopefully consciousness would come in this lifetime.
Contrary to what you think Meka , I fully understood all that you were trying to say in part because I can see clearly behind the stupid facade that some of us like to project while attempting to be global saviors and ignoring their country of birth.
I refuse to attempt to continue a dialog with someone who foolishly think that the majority of Trinis are running to foreign lands because of fear of crime.
Tell that to our educated nurses ,and teachers that prefer to leave their kids in T&T while they push white babies around Manhattan ,or cook Kosher meals for miserable old Jewish ladies in Brooklyn on a daily basis. Make that idiotic comment to the ex police that is driving dollar vans in Queens , or the UWI trained computer engineer that is selling coffee or fighting to do construction work with racist Irish and Mafia tugs in Boston, yet cannot take the chance of being found on the wrong side of town .
With phony citizens like Meka ,who needs enemies , one might enquire.

Some of the comments here seem very hastily made, without even bothering to read and truly understand & digest what someone else has written – so skewed & full of misunderstandings are some of the responses. This is not my forum, but I think it would be good if people actually respected other writers enough to bother to READ their comments & digest them for a while with some thought before jumping in with responses.

Linda Edwards said: “There is no superior race.”

– Amen to that! My sentiments exactly.

The following are related to Curtis’ earlier comments:

“The trans-Atlantic slave trade didn’t only just transport people; it divided families, stripped culture, and homogenized a racial group based on color.”

– Analyzing slavery, I think this is actually quite typical throughout history; the enslaved people are often transported elsewhere, to be used as workers, soldiers, whatever, often thousands of kilometres and across the seas from their homes. Nobody cared of their origin or individual differences because they were considered “just slaves”. As such this is not a unique phenomenon.

“What I find disturbing is that now others who are not European seem to think that it is fine to try to abuse people primarily of African decent.”

– This (that non-Europeans are also disliking different people) is hardly a new phenomena in the history of mankind, and I do not feel this is somehow “primarily” targeting African descendants in particular.

“Now others think that they can fill the void that the Europeans abandoned in order to raise their culture and nations at our expense.”

– I feel that the financial (and partly military) balance of power in this world of ours is changing, and this affects all the people. Again nothing new in this, as throughout the history of nations this has been happening. We tend to concentrate on a very short time period of human history too often when thinking about these things. What is new perhaps is the the rapid pace of change, the speed of change is accelerating i.e. nations stay at the top shorter time than before. The period of Spanish domination of the world lasted perhaps 300 years, English 200 – American now only about 100 years or less. Trends seem to indicate that the new era will bring Asian financial domination in the form of China and perhaps India.

“Nobody cares if an African is a racist. So what! It has no weight.”

I certainly do!!! As should others, most of all any people of African descent! Racism is wrong. This view is very one-sided indeed I feel.

“Xenophobia amongst Africans and Africans of the Diaspora should be the norm based off of history and global negative perceptions of Africans and Africans of the Diaspora.”

– Xenophobia = hatred or fear of foreigners or strangers. You have a strong point here, but this point is universal, again not only Afro-centric. Wars, killings, slavery – all the bad experiences that the human history is full of are perhaps the biggest reason for Xenophobia in general. Again, to think that there is somehow African exclusivity in this matter is quite one-sided view I feel. It is a global phenomena rooted deep within mankind’s ugly past. If there’s one good thing about globalization, it must be that slowly we are able to rid ourselves of xenophobia I hope.

“Even a fool knows that most violent crime committed by Africans …is against Africans.”

Ahem – yes. However I do not think these are racially motivated crimes, just as white against white crimes are not racial crimes. They are crimes – crimes of convenience, power, lust, evil – crimes. How many criminals in T&T for example have stated “I did it to Tom / Dick / Harry because he is black – and I am too, and I hate blacks!!”? Please do explain why you think they are racially motivated crimes instead of – crimes?

“It’s so insulting that it’s almost comical to name one incident in the 80’s … without mentioning the “Black on Black” crime of that decade.”

I do apologize for insulting, although I cannot see how my example is so personally insultive here – I just wanted to give one concrete example of RACIALLY MOTIVATED wrongdoing. This is hardly the only time when I have observed racially motivated insults/violence, be it committed by a black person or other. My point was, there was a statement in the discussion that implied that people of African descent are totally free of any such race hate crimes, and honestly – that is, simply put, racism in itself – one is elevating a complete race above all others quite unrealistically.

“Someone stated that Asian society is full of skin whitening creams and then they later stated something about not kissing the feet of Americans.”

Ok – To you “White” probably equals people of European descent. Many Asian actually consider Europeans by looks “pink” and “big nosed”. When Asian people use whitening creams, they do not want to imitate Europeans, they simply want to have a “whiter complexion”, classically considered a sign of beauty & prosperity in many parts of Asia. Rich people stay inside and do physically easy tasks, i.e. stay pale – whilst the poor work outside in the sun and get darker.

“Japanese society has been so whitewashed (excuse the pun) Eurocentric Americanized it resembles a hybrid society and only a shell of the proud civilization it once was. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t like the movie The Last Samurai.”

– Please. Last Samurai movie was a Hollywood movie aimed at American (white) audience, not Asian / Japanese. In a Japanese of a Chinese movie the hero is NEVER white, trust me – bad guys often are. Japanese society may appear very whitewashed on the glittering surface, but is hardly that. Look beyond Hollywood in this matter.

“Families in Asia praise children that are half European genetically speaking while scolding the mother of a child that is half African.”

-?? Families in Asia I know & have seen do not particularly gloat over or promote children of mixed race above all else, be they half-white or whatever. Similarly a Chinese family for example is not jumping for joy if their daughter marries a white man. They’d much rather see her marry a Chinese man, believe it or not.

“Only a racist would believe that Jews of the time in Egypt were European in look. That same racist would not know that it was not Arabs that controlled Egypt at that time. Slavery practiced by Europeans was something totally different than what the Africans perpetuated. “

– Baffling…I do not know which discussion these references arise from. Certainly the jewish tribes of those days would have looked typically Middle-Eastern I believe. I never said “Arabs” controlled Egypt at the time of Pharaos? I said Arabic traders had established slave trade routes in Africa long before Europeans started hauling slaves to the so-called New World.

-Slavery is slavery, only difference is that one historic example which may touch Trinidad more is far more familiar to you / us than an earlier different one which nobody cares so much about. That still doesn’t change the past of present.

“Historically, only European/ Eurocentric nations seesaw because it was only Europeans sharing the wealth and power that they stripped from the world.”

– I would strongly question your point here, because I feel you are again looking at this based on a very, very small & recent slice of human history, and from a very Eurocentric viewpoint as well. All great nations and civilizations which we know from the pages of human history (and probably those we know nothing of) exploited others around them, gained size in occupying their lands and wealth. Ancient Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Macedonia, Mongol empire, The Chi empire in Asia, Roman empire, Moguls of India, Central African kingdoms, Ottoman empire, Aztec and Inca nations – they rose and fell, and all grew by war, conquest and exploitation.

Neal said: “It’s easy to understand why Africans on the continent will continue to kiss the butts of South/East Asians, Arabs , and Europeans that repeatedly treat them as garbage while keeping lascivious eyes on their vast natural resources.”

– This is a very unfair and unfounded statement. Have you ever been to Africa? How many Africans do you know? Now you seem yourself full of hatred or despise towards Africans, and that is not right.

“Contrary to what you think Meka , I fully understood all that you were trying to say in part because I can see clearly behind the stupid facade that some of us like to project while attempting to be global saviors and ignoring their country of birth.”

Sigh – I wish that you would kindly take the time and at least write my name correctly, I would take that as a sign of understanding and respect. I am sorry if you feel I (amongst others I take it) hide behind a “stupid facade”. Similarly I feel sorry you see it fit to call me “someone who is foolish / idiotic / phony”.

Yes, many Trinis I know have left T&T because of the crime and fear – also because of poverty, because they feel their kids may have a better education & life abroad, because because. Far more people leave T&T than come to T&T. From your comments it seems your views on foreign countries are extremely negative – again I wonder how much of travel you have done to reach these conclusions and generalizations.

It is to be noted that crime in Iceland is white on white crime. Crime in China is Chinese on Chinese crime(three people have ben executed for the contaminated milk scandal, and crime in India is Indian on Indian crime.No one talks of this, but let there be a crime of any sort in TnT and people get anxious to see what the perp looks like. Same is true of the US. This is racism., at its worst.All crimes are personal, and crimes of opportunity. A man enraged at his wife, slits her throat- Indian on Indian crime? No, an enraged man killed his wife. Gang crime in Laventille, is crime against other gngs in laventille, in which innocents get kiled.
As long as we keep trying to sort crime by race, crime willcontinue to be misrepresented.Crime stems from poverty, hoelessness , despair and a sense of the futility of trying to “look for wuk”. It is easier to go to a well paying job, that tobe constantly dodging the police.Those who dodge the police, in any country, have bee pushed there by others in the society.

Recently, I had to talk a youn man out of going to an ofice and shooting up the place, regardless. The “boss” terminated him, and refused to pay the severance pay he owend him. Earned income was nearly six thousand dollars. Evetually, when all else failed, they young man gathered his posse and went to the office to demnad his money. Faced with about six people threatening everything they could do to you, the employer paid up. When I asked if such drastic steps were really necesary, The young man respondd, “there are three international languages, a baby’s smile, music, and violence. There was no need to smile or sing in this situation.”
This kind of taking advantage of people goes on every day in exploitative societies, and are hen labelled Black on Black Crime, or Racially Motivated Crime or other nonsense.

“As long as we keep trying to sort crime by race, crime will continue to be misrepresented.” (LINDA EDWARDS)
Most countries keep crime statistics based on age, gender,race etc.This information is extremely valuable if properly used to find solutions aimed at crime reduction.Social scientists are continuously examining this data to draw valid and reliable conclusions.There are reasons why jails in Canada are populated with an imbalance of higher numbers of Native peoples, There are reasons why jails in T&T and the USA have a disproportionate number of Blacks and in the case of the USA specifically, a disproportionate number of Hispanics compared to the general population.”Sorting crime by race” could lead to a better understanding of the problems facing these groups and eventual solutions aimed at crime reduction, rather than prejudical labelling.

Pray tell us T-Man why jails in T&T have a disproportionate number of Blacks as opposed to Indians ,even if as you enjoy reminding us frequently, the latter makes up the largest group in the population? Some would say it is because Black thugs do not have the means in terms of liquid or fixed assets to pay lawyers to defend them in like manner to their Indian counterparts.
I assume that you would vehemently disagree , but would conclude that one group posses this innate propensity to commit crimes , while the other tend to be law abiding , hard working , industrious ,culturally sound folks , whose only foray into the criminal statistical data are due to the predominantly racist African law enforcement officials we are saddled with . Am I right?

There you go again Neal, making assumptions which are completely unfounded.No one ethnic group has a monopoly on crime.And yes,many find themselves in jail because of improper defense or no defense at all.Others end up in jail because they cannot afford to pay fines.Also, in the USA and possibly T&T, there is no shortage of biased judges who impose longer sentences.I am sure you are aware of the relationship between crime and a lack of economic opportunities.
And by the way racist police officers are busted quite frequently in North America.
Finally, the population stats. which I often quote comes from the website of the government of T&T. It is not my invention.I am quite amused that so many on this news site seem to be offended by the reality of the population statistics of T&T.

-Slavery is slavery, only difference is that one historic example which may touch Trinidad more is far more familiar to you / us than an earlier different one which nobody cares so much about. That still doesn’t change the past of present.
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I never can understand why people who are seemingly intelligent continue to make these kinds of odious analogies. There has never been, in the historical awarenes of human kind, any similar institutionalization of enslavement that parallels, even remotely, the experience of Africans. Pray, cite the example where any other group of people had a similar experience. Where they lost their language and cultural connections. Where the educational systems used by most of the world enthusiastically adopted the rationale for such enslavement as a factual reprsentation of the enslaved.

People who equate African enslavement with patterns of conquest that permeate the history of most nations are subtely and deceitfully attempting to diminish the horror of the European Slave Trading in African bodies, in order to justify them continuing carrying the stereotype that makes them feel good. The enslavement of Africans was unique, subjective, and has no parallel in the historical awareness of human kind.

.”Sorting crime by race” could lead to a better understanding of the problems facing these groups and eventual solutions aimed at crime reduction, rather than prejudical labelling.
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In the first place there is no Hispanic race. Secondly, if they were doing this during the period when most of the crimes in the US were being committed by whites, when blacks were disproportionately the victims of crimes of murder, assaults, rapes, usurption of property, I would probably agree with you. Crime is bad today because the descendants of the criminals of yesteryear can afford to go legit as a consequence of the proceeds that was bequeathed to them. If T&T and the US prosecuted all nature of crimes with the same vehemence they did those that are prevalent among some groups, the entire crime graph would carry a different slant.

You are correct. Prosecutors in the USA seem to aggressively pursue and advertise crime committed by minorities with greater aggression. The media climbs on the bandwagon, ensuring swift and sometimes disproportionate sentences.

“From your comments it seems your views on foreign countries are extremely negative – again I wonder how much of travel you have done to reach these conclusions and generalizations.” “ Have you ever been to Africa? How many Africans do you know? Now you seem yourself full of hatred or despise towards Africans, and that is not right.”

,Quite recently an equally misguided and confused Polish American guy I happen to know for some time ,foolishly concluded that I must hate America because of a different position I took as to the reason why Obama was elected. He was convinced that his victory proved that America was no longer a racial society because white America voted the way they did . My response was that Obama won in great measure for two reasons . First ,because the candidates he had to contend ran ineffective campaigns , and were clueless as to how to move the country forward after the perilous state that the last President was leaving President it.Mc Cain was a pandering , hot tempered one issue warmonger , and a clone of the elite and incoherent George W Bush that the country had come to despise. Hilary was an arrogant opportunistic ,carpetbagging, hypocritical , privileged feminist , who felt that America was Europe and she was entitled to the Presidency since many liberals voters had at one time was obsessed with her unprincipled , immoral , shady husband.
Secondly he had a better grasp on the critical economic situation , and preach a more refined message of hope , and global peace that voters found more palatable.
I tend not to be too rough on folks like that , but can tend to get riled up when confronted with similar logic by others that claim to be savvy , sophisticated ,educated, global travelers, whose simple mind make them think that I hate Africa based of my commentaries on this board.
Meka , be informed that it is not hatred for a teacher or a parent to be tough on a child that they felt have the ability , but was not living up to full potential . Contrary to what you think I do not hate Africa or foreign countries. I am a globalist , who enjoy occasionally pointing out a few deficiencies in this case to a few countries or continents ,and occasionally put forward suggesting as solutions.

I do not enjoy boring folks about my life outside of my country and places that I have ventured to Meka . For the record I have been living abroad for the past two decades ,and it’s not due to the fact that I was breaking stones in Grenada for a living. I lived and worked in Africa for a period and have seen a few of the states up close. Additionally , I make it my duty on a daily basis ,to speak with Africans of most of the 61 territories belonging to the continent. It is my way of also getting a clearer picture of realities in my motherland that Eurocentric CNN, Fox 5, CBC , and BBC cannot always capture .

It is so unfortunate that we are daily bombarded with useless population statistics by opportunistic intellectuals ,and conniving destabilization agents , hellbent on trying to convince us as to who represent the largest segment of or 1.3 or more million population even if an honest survey was not conducted in decades , and the callaloo mix of races just like most Latin Americans cannot even decide what ethnic branch they really belong to.
Now the question is how do we counteract them , and the naive like Meka ,who erroneously believe that “ far more people leave T&T than come to T&T?”
I like to remind some of the comment of an old A Level teacher I once had that said “ Statistics are like a woman’s bikini, it reveals quite a lot , but conceals that which is vital.”
My , my what a fool I am to have incurred the full wrath of Mika who would perhaps redefined me as a diabolical ,misogynistic , ‘male chauvinist pig,’ for daring to put forth what she might think is an anti female reference.
See Meka, I even call myself a fool as well, so take no offense . Once more , please note that I love Africa since according to Composer one of our wonderful kaisonian ,
“ a cat born in an oven is not a bread.”
Thanks Ruel for addressing the crafty T-Man .I tell this character could soon qualify to run for the House of parliament , the way he could flip the script when it comes to an issue when cornered.
let’s continue to keep them honest my friend.